Parts of the USA will be up against the "complete arsenal of violent weather," says AccuWeather's Henry Margusity. / Craig Fry, AP

by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

Wild weather is forecast to batter the nation's heartland from Wisconsin to Texas this weekend.

"The potential from the storms spans the complete arsenal of violent weather, ranging from large hail and flash flooding to damaging straight-line wind gusts and tornadoes," says AccuWeather severe weather expert Henry Margusity.

The main threat will be Saturday, Weather Channel meteorologist Jon Erdman reports. "We expect the most widespread severe weather episode we've seen in the nation since mid-September," he says.

The most recent severe weather outbreak featured damaging winds that rattled the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Sept. 18, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The risk of damaging, life-threatening thunderstorms, including tornadoes, will reach a peak Saturday afternoon and evening from southern Minnesota and southern Wisconsin all the way to north-central Texas, Margusity says.